Planters today carry a hopper in the vertical position for feeding seed material through a seed distributing apparatus to plant the seed in rows in the soil. To clean out the seed remaining in the hopper at the end of a planting operation, it is customary to release one side of the bottom of the hopper and turn the same over so that the hopper is lying in the horizontal direction, after which one scrapes out the seed to clean the hopper. In doing this, it is practically impossible to avoid spilling seed on the ground through the usual seed-exit opening in the bottom of the hopper. The operator may seek to close such opening with one hand while manipulating the hopper with the other hand, but this is ineffectual.
The object of the present invention is to provide a seed clean-out opening through the cylindrical wall of the hopper next to the bottom, together with a closure member for this clean-out opening having an outer surface complementary to the inner face of the hopper cylinder and having opposite parallel edges, with guide means fixed in the hopper engaging the parallel edges of the closure member and holding the same close to the hopper cylindrical wall while permitting sliding movement of the closure member along the hopper axially. This closure member is of a length to engage the bottom and close the seed clean-out opening only when its upper end opposite the clean-out opening is substantially touching the top, so that the top must be closed to indicate the clean-out opening is closed, and the closure member may be easily reciprocated away from the clean-out opening to remove seed from the hopper, at all times retaining the hopper in its vertical position.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the accompanying specification and drawings and the inventive features thereof will be set forth in the appended claims.